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FoE: Skills

Skills are at the heart of Fate Core; the default list often needs tweaked a bit to fit a given setting, so we’ll be going through the list and modifying them to fit the cursed land of Wraeclast. Some may also get a tweak to how they function in terms of the four actions, and we’ll be calling back to this list when looking at the various classes and how they could be rendered for Fate of Exiles.

Athletics – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Defend

Burglary Theft – Overcome, Create an Advantage

Contacts – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Defend

Crafts – Overcome, Create an Advantage

Deceive – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Defend

Drive – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Defend

Empathy – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Defend

Fight – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Attack, Defend

Investigate – Overcome, Create an Advantage

Lore – Overcome, Create an Advantage

Notice – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Defend

Physique – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Defend

Provoke – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Attack

Rapport – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Defend

Resources – Overcome, Create an Advantage

Shoot – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Attack

Stealth – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Defend

Will – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Defend

One skill’s name changed, one skill altered in function, one skill removed. Why? Because Theft makes more sense as a skill concept here – you’re not going to be burgling in this game, you’re going to be doing snatch-and-dash, opening old chests, and trying to palm things; behavior of a sneak-thief in an alley, not a burglar.

Contacts loses Defend as an action because in this setting, your contacts aren’t allies our a social network; they’re the other exiles, the ones who are scared to leave the dubious protection of the hiding-holes they’ve found. They can get you supplies and information, letting you overcome and create advantages, but they’re not going to be there to watch your back against anyone else.

Drive is just gone; the only way from A to B is by foot. Getting from B back to A can be easier – portals and the ancient wayshrines provide methods of getting back to what passes for civilization that are a great deal easier than slogging along back through miles of mud and rotting corpses.

In addition, we’ll be adding a few skills.

Acrobatics – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Defend

Throw – Overcome, Create an Advantage, Attack

Virtue – Overcome, Create an Advantage

Acrobatics is a skill intended to be complementary to Athletics; where Athletics read as a skill of strength, stamina, and speed, Acrobatics becomes a skill of raw agility, dexterity, and physical grace. It can be used to dodge hazards, set the character up in strange and advantageous locations, and enable them to bob, weave, and dive out of harm’s way.

Throw is meant to complement Shoot, the latter being a skill of bows and crossbows while the former speaks of throwing knives, hand axes, javelins, and the like. Simple uses of throwing might include hurling knives to make handholds, which could either Overcome an obstacle or Create an Advantage; create an Aspect like Sliced Across the Hamstringon an opponent; or simply be used to hit people in other zones.

Virtue is a skill that serves as a base for the effects of the active skills of Path of Exile, the Virtue Gems. Ranks in this skill indicate the character is an accomplished user of the Virtue Gems, with a wider range of unusual options than someone who simply relies on their skill at arms or their quick wits to get them out of trouble.

Other than these changes, the skill tree from Fate Core remains intact; the specific effects of the Virtue skill will come in a later post talking about the Gems, their use, and how to mimic those effects in Fate with extras and stunts.